Trade All the Stars (excerpt)
Bright Sky, a young wolf woman just out on her own and following in the footsteps of her activist adopted mother, finds herself pulled back to her ringworld home in the wake of a family tragedy.
This is the first scene of the story as a preview. The full piece is in the anthology Fragments of Life's Heart, edited by Laura "Munchkin" Lewis and Stefano "Mando" Zocchi, published by Weasel Press. It's a prequel to both the earlier story "Tow" and the forthcoming novel Kismet.
At this exact moment, everything aligned to make daylight in New Coyoacán the brightest it could be. In another twelve minutes, the Ring would face Ceres' dark side and the ambient light would dim, if only by a few dozen lumens thanks to mirrors and reflective particles far too high up to see. As she looked up at her self-chosen namesake right now, though, Bright Sky had to squint. That was good. It centered her enough to suppress the growling. "What happened to taking all the time I need?"
She wasn't running the call with video; she wanted the freedom to walk around her mother's house, even out onto the back porch. She didn't need it, anyway. The stammer in Kirk's reply gave her a perfect image of his little fox ears folding back. "You still can, Sky. I know it's only been a week since Judith's funeral and you have a lot to do. Have you gotten Gail squared away?"
"I'm supposed to be at the RJC in an hour to get an update." The Ring Judicial Cooperative had started tracking down Gail's father last week, even before the funeral. She'd thought by now either he'd be taking the next ship from Earth to the River, or Gail would be packing for the reverse trip. Finally an RJC mediator had left a message this morning, asking her to come to the office in person.
"I didn't want to sound like I was giving you a hard deadline. It's just--you're a third of the team, and frankly, we get less trouble when there's a two meter tall wolf woman hanging around."
"Was there another break-in?" She walked back inside the house. Even though the wolf totemic had lived there less than five years, this was the only place that had ever felt like home. For the last six months, though, she'd been on her own, renting a tiny efficiency on Lariat Station. Everyone, even Mom, talked about it as a great step, the freedom of being adult. Had they all forgotten she'd fled Earth and come to the River on her own when she was twelve? She'd been an adult for that year. It hadn't been much fun.
"No, just petty vandalism. But two cisform people were following Kathryn yesterday. She's pretty rattled."
Sky sighed. "That's what we all signed up for." They weren't the only three transform humans on Lariat, but they might well have been the only three full totemics, completely remade as animal-people. They'd moved there to open an office for the River Totemic Equality Association; it wasn't popular with most locals.
"I guess I just didn't expect the hostility. I'm used to Panorica, and Lariat isn't Solera, you know?"
She knew. Panorica was the second biggest settlement on The River, an arcology station with nearly two million residents. While it had a reputation for being statist compared to other platforms, totemics didn't face the challenges there they did where the Purity movement had a hold. "Look, I'll be back as soon as I can."
"I know, Sky. We just miss you. And you know everyone's so proud that you're following your mother's path, even after this."
As Kirk talked, platitudes tumbling into a meaningless drone, Sky's gaze settled on the cloth dolls her mother had set on the mantelpiece. Judith Simmons hadn't been much for knickknacks, but she'd always treated this set of simple figures as heirlooms: bright Spanish-style dresses, simple faces. They had to be handmade. Were they from her mother? Should Sky hang onto them? No, they should go to Gail. She was Judith's daughter by blood, the daughter who would inherit the bulk of her estate. Given their simple lifestyle, the size of the inheritance had startled Sky. She knew Mom had come from a well-off family, but hadn't realized how much so.
Maybe the dolls belonged in a museum. They might have some cultural significance. Built on a ringworld four AUs from Earth, there was little Mexican about New Coyoacán beyond its name, so every scrap of heritage became a point of pride. Judith herself was a point of pride, one of their most famous citizens. Now their most famous martyr.
Kirk had stopped speaking. What had he just said? Something about taking her time, and about how much time did she think that would be--another couple of weeks? "Uh, maybe. After the trust for Gail's all settled, I'll need to store or sell the furniture, get the house cleaned up. I need to be going now, though. I want to meet Gail at school and head over to the RJC together."
"Alright. Just let us know what your schedule is."
She disconnected the call and took another look around the house, tail drooping. Maybe it all belonged in a museum. Maybe this already was a museum, everything left just so, just as Judith--Mom--had last seen it. The trip to Solera hadn't even been meant as an overnight. Gail had wanted to go, and Mara's Blood, Judith had let her. She'd taken her daughter to see the protest, to be there, to see her mother speak, to watch the bomb underneath the stage explode and shatter it into shrapnel.
Sky closed her eyes against the blurring of tears, clenching her hands into fists hard enough to drive her claw tips into the pads, and hurried out of the house. She didn't have time for tears yet. With any luck, she'd stay busy enough and angry enough that she never would.